Kenny Jackett, the Wolverhampton Wanderers manager, challenged his team to go on a winning run after beating Birmingham at St Andrew’s. The welcome victory against their neighbours followed three successive defeats.
Jackett said: “We are at Bristol on Tuesday and Burnley at home on Saturday. You have mini periods in the Championship where you can have two weeks off and then nine points are available in eight days.
“If you can get a good return it can snowball. It builds confidence, but similarly it can go the other way as the Championship is very close because there are a number of good sides.
“I am looking for a consistent approach and we are delighted to win a local derby and we are one or two players away from a really good side.”
Dave Edwards scored the opening goal after 11 minutes for his second strike in successive games to give Wolves the upper hand and they sealed victory when the substitute Sheyi Ojo scored six minutes from time.
Jackett added: “The three points are important to us. In our previous three games we have been too open and not competitive enough. We defended well as a team and showed commitment. We got the goals at the right time and hopefully we now have something to build on.”
Jackett paid credit to Newcastle’s Steve McClaren for allowing the defender Mike Williamson to join Wolves on loan. “His talking and organisation is what we need at the present time. I am delighted that he was keen to join Wolves,” the manager said.
Jackett was also full of praise for the winger and former Swindon player Nathan Byrne. He said: “Coming from a lower division is difficult. Sometimes that transition is difficult. He has hit the wall a couple of times at around 75 minutes. He is new to the Championship but I felt he gave us a lot against Birmingham. It is nice to see these kind of lads coming.”
Gary Rowett admitted Birmingham’s performance was far from the required standard and claimed the referee, Peter Bankes, let too many challenges go unpunished. “We did not show the quality we required,” he said. “We needed to be more inventive and show more composure on the ball.
“Conceding a very poor goal against the run of play didn’t help us. That was the disappointing thing for me. We have been very solid defensively and not given too much away but the two goals were poor from our point of view and very easy for Wolves to score.
“There were two crucial parts of the game. After eight minutes Williamson had already fouled [Clayton] Donaldson two or three times. The referee allowed it to keep going and going. I did not think he was strong enough to deal with any of those situations.
“We have been counterattacked by a side keen to atone for their three recent defeats and they showed a little more quality than us.” PA
